Atomic force microscopy images of copper electrical contacts wear under the influence of friction

Measurement of wear of copper electrical contacts under the influence of friction. Imaging in contact mode in the variant of scanning spreading resistance microscopy. Additionally, there are spectroscopic current-voltage curves showing local changes in electrical conductivity. NTEGRA Prima (NT-MDT) device. Probe NSG 01Pt.
The images show the results of scanning the copper electrical contact areas used in the switches. As a result of use, there is a mechanical degradation of the electrical contact areas, affecting the deterioration of the device's performance. The microscale tests allowed to determine the microstructural details of the wear of the contact point between the contacts, expressed by the degree of abrasion of these surfaces. In addition, in the case of testing electrical conductivity, the atomic force microscopy technique can be supplemented with a variant of electrical measurement, which consists of applying a voltage between the conductive probe and the tested sample and measuring the resulting current. It is a measure of the local quality of electrical contact and can be expressed both as conductivity maps and local current-voltage curves. The file contains 18 images and 8 current-voltage curves.